Sixers' Hawes, Wroten likely out Wednesday vs. Orlando

By
, The Delaware County Daily Times

Monday, November 25, 2013

PHILADELPHIA — The 76ers may be without Spencer Hawes and Tony Wroten longer than they initially had planned.

Hawes and Wroten, who did not practice Monday, are not likely to play Wednesday in Orlando, Sixers coach Brett Brown said. The two were limited to shooting free throws with teammates following the two-hour session at PCOM. Both missed Saturday’s loss at Indiana, Hawes with soreness in his left knee and Wroten while contending with a lower back strain.

“I’m told I should not expect anything,” Brown said. “They may play in Orlando, but we’re not sure. Right now, Spencer did not practice. Tony did not practice. We had nine guys go at it and we made the most of it. Going forward, I’m really not sure. I’m told not to count on them.”

Hawes suffered his knee injury last Friday, in the fourth quarter of an overtime win over Milwaukee. Hawes, who played the duration of that game, said he hit a wet spot on the floor and felt soreness on the inside of his left knee. A similar scenario caused the center to miss time during training camp.

“From yesterday to today is the most improvement thus far,” Hawes said, “so hopefully it’s nothing but a little tweak.”

As for Wroten, he exited that game against Milwaukee after straining his back in the third quarter. The second-year guard seemed to imply that he had been feeling back pain for at least a day or two prior to the flare-up.

“(It was) actually going on a few days before that, but I don’t remember the play,” Wroten said. “During that game against Milwaukee, it really hit me.”

Both Hawes and Wroten expressed a desire to play in the Sixers’ next game, though it seems it might be out of their hands.

•••With nine healthy bodies, the Sixers did not scrimmage. They ran “a lot of half-court stuff,” Brown said. They have used assistant video coordinator Curtis Sumpter as their 10th man in practice at times this season. That wasn’t an option Monday.

“Even Curtis was sick today,” Brown said. “Even though I declared him to be the most athletic assistant video coordinator in the NBA, he was ill.”